Sad Swartland Sunset

Mental illness is no laughing matter. The recent suicide of two well known winemakers/viticulturalists has confirmed that the Kingdom of Bacchus is not immune to the stresses and pressures of life in the mainstream. Sipping a wonderfully nutty (in the almond sense) bottle of Ken Forrester Chenin Blanc 2000 with friends in tribute to one of them as the sun set behind the Paardeberg, the fragility of our own grasp on the bosom of Gaia was reinforced. Rushing across wheat fields and vineyards to reclaim first Groenberg and then the Hawequas and Dutoitskloof massifs (which put up a brief fight before turning its attention to the more distant Witzenberg and Winterberg mountains behind Tulbagh) sunset in the Swartland is one of those terroir-affirming rites of passage that makes it all worthwhile.